


Gavin Puts Baby in a Corner

by MorganOfTheFey



Series: Reed900 Bonus Fics [6]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Biting, Feral!Nines, Groping, Licking, Light Petting, M/M, Making Out, Nines is messed up but Gavin takes care of him, Podfic Welcome, Some minor violence, kind of a sick fic, no dub con or anything; Nines understands what's happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:08:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25733362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganOfTheFey/pseuds/MorganOfTheFey
Summary: Gavin arrives to work late one morning to discover Nines "galaxy brain" RK900 decided to interface with one of the few android survivors of a virus that makes androids go feral. In an absolutely shocking turn of events that the world's most superior android could not have possibly preconstructed, Nines has also caught the virus himself and isn't allowing anyone to come near him.Enter Gavin, and his magic powers of "pspspspssspss."
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Reed900 Bonus Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843504
Comments: 36
Kudos: 407





	Gavin Puts Baby in a Corner

**Author's Note:**

> we've got another commissioned fic, folks! this one even comes with ~ART~
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/bj3x0fma4mr84oi/meow-nines-fanart.jpg?dl=0
> 
> I'm sorry I couldn't figure out how to embed the picture in the fic itself bc even though I have a working link, it just never did it right and I'm too hungry for lunch rn to deal with it

Gavin rolls into work nearly an hour late and pissed off about it. The power outage in the middle of the night must have knocked out his alarm clock because he can't have SHIT in Detroit.

And yes, it's a real physical clock, not just his phone because those are way easier to replace when he hurls them at the wall. Clock or not though, Nines will usually text him on the fucking hour if he's even literally one minute late, but he didn't even get that wake up notification, so he'd just woken up confused, groggy, and already half an hour late.

There isn't even coffee on his desk when he gets there. He takes deep breaths and counts to three. 

One, Nines isn't required to fetch him coffee every single morning (it's just that he always does and now Gavin's used to it). 

Two, they're partners, so any case Nines solves is kind of a case for him too (it's not though, that case is his). 

Three, Nines wouldn't case steal from him like that, right?

Except why the fuck else would Nines suddenly go radio silent after months of riding his ass every single goddamn morning, the one day they're set to interview the only android "witness" they've got and—

Gavin tells his screaming paranoid brain goblins to shut the fuck up and makes for Interrogation Room 3 to settle this shit. If Nines is in there interfacing with the witness without him, he swears to god and Captain Fowler both, he will fucking--

Hank stumbles out of the room just before a chair gets hurled out after him. Pretty impressive, considering they're bolted to the floor.

Gavin approaches with his hand on his gun, but Hank just grumbles profanity instead of yelling for backup. The chair hit the wall behind him too, so he's fine, and not even making an attempt to block the doorway to prevent the suspect from escaping either, but that could be drunken incompetence and Gavin's learned to assume he's drunk unless proven sober.

Except when Gavin blocks off the doorway himself, there isn't any suspect or witness inside. Just Nines standing—oh fuck, his LED is red.

"He interfaced with our witness directly because he's way too superior to ever catch the virus," Hank grouses.

"Nines, you motherfucker."

His partner remains standing in the middle of the room, at parade rest with his hands behind his back. The red spin of his LED—and the fact he'd just thrown a chair at what's technically his "superior officer"—are the only signs he contracted the virus too.

The one that turns androids violent and unpredictable, shutting out all their codes and programs except the very basics of how to function. Veeery basics. Like, if androids could be reverted back to feral instincts, except they obviously don't have that shit as robots, so it just glitches them the fuck out.

"You case-stealing asshole," Gavin continues berating him from the door.

Nines doesn't acknowledge that at all.

"Well," Hank says. "He wasn't really interviewing our witness. The techs still had him in a forced stasis, and Nines didn't try to wake him up without you. Insisted we wait actually, he just thought he could take a look inside to isolate the virus code himself."

Gavin grunts, feeling a little bit better, but not wanting to admit it. Especially now that they've got the world's most advanced military model aggressively zombified. Or … something. Whatever it does, the virus reacts differently in each android, but the last time a military model got it, they needed a whole goddamn SWAT team to bring him down.

"Has he tried to leave?" Gavin asks.

"Nope. But he's attacked everyone who goes in there, so the techs can't …"

Gavin stops listening to whatever else Hank says. He can see Nines's back reflected in the wall-to-wall mirror behind him, and the way his fingers give a mechanical twitch when Hank mentions the technicians. Nines hates techs. He refuses to use repair stations or let anyone touch his code.

After what Cyberlife did to him in their "testing phase," he has damn good reason. It took four other dead androids to make Connor, stress-tested until deactivation, but Nines had survived through the whole goddamn ordeal.

How do they know he's bulletproof and up to what caliber? Well, they just fucking shot at him until they found out!

"Fuck off, I'll handle it," he says.

"We've all tried," Hank tells him. "He's attacked everyone, not just Connor. Chris, Tina, even Fowler."

Gavin rolls his eyes. "Well RIP to you dipshits, but I'm different. Now fuck off."

Hank scoffs at him, but allows Gavin to push and shove at him to "make him" leave without retaliating. Inside the room, Nines doesn't react, but Gavin knows he's watching them. Hank's probably at least smart enough to figure out showing Gavin remove a "threat" away from Nines might make the android a bit less hostile.

Once they're alone, Gavin takes off his jacket, tosses it inside, and then closes the door. He counts out two minutes before he cracks the door open again, but doesn't open it any farther than that.

"So looks like we've both had a real shit morning, huh tin can?"

He keeps talking through the crack, telling Nines all about his shitty morning. He doesn't try to keep the irritation out of his voice, because unlike the stray cats he sometimes finds in the alley at his apartment, Nines doesn't need to be cooed at or babytalked. In fact, the android specifically hates social niceties.

One of the biggest issues with the virus is that it deletes or locks out (or whatever) an android's social module. So then they don't know what is and is not appropriate anymore, their emotional regulation is shot, and they've got no inhibitions about being mean or rude.

But that's Nines's secret: he's never had a social module or any fucks to give.

Eventually, he gets the door all the way open again as he talks. Nines has relocated to the corner of the room with the jacket held in his hands, now in front of his body. Gavin has no idea how much importance an android gives to scent versus a stray cat, but it seems to be working.

"Hey baby," he says automatically.

Fuck. That's the sweet-talking nonsense he uses on cats not his six-foot-four android partner he'll have to work with tomorrow.

"I'm going to step inside now," he tells Nines. "I'll close the door behind me so no one else can come in, all right?"

Nines's LED doesn't flash red any brighter, and he doesn't bare his teeth at him. So that's progress, maybe? Gavin risks placing a single foot past the threshold. Nines watches the movement with laser focus (maybe literally, for all he knows), but stays in his corner.

Gavin assesses the room before going any farther. The mirror remains unbroken, but both the stainless steel interrogation table and one other chair have been ripped up from the floor in preparation for future throwing.

That actually gives him an idea.

He steps inside and closes the door behind him, then shuffles to his left, away from Nines in the far back right corner and the room's only exit. Not counting the two-way mirror, which he reeeally hopes doesn't get used as one. Specifically by his unwilling body if Nines decides to yeet him next.

"Hey, OK, do you recognize me?" he asks.

Nines doesn't respond.

"I'm your partner, you're my partner, we're both dicks."

Still no reaction other than the Staring.

"All right, well, I'm not going to hurt you," Gavin tells him. "We're just going to hang out for a minute."

He blinks slowly at Nines, then leans back against the wall. Keeps his hands in view and starts rambling about what bullshit it is that they raised the prices on the candy bars in the vending machine, punctuated by more blinks and the occasional yawn that doesn't need to be faked.

Because he didn't get his fucking coffee this morning.

After a few minutes, Nines starts blinking back at him sometimes. He takes that has a sign that he's earned enough goodwill to move onto the next phase.

"That's the best corner, the farthest point away from the door," Gavin tells Nines. "So that's where we're going to set up, but I need you out of the way. Can you go in the other corner for a bit?"

Nines doesn't move.

"OK, I'm just gonna …" He pushes off the wall to stand up straight. "Herd you over there."

Gavin crosses to the back end of the room with the mirror without a problem, but when he turns and starts walking toward Nines's corner, the android shows his fangs.

"Easy, baby. Not gonna hurt you."

He spreads his hands at his sides, palms out, and takes another step. Nines sidles along the length of the wall instead of attacking him. He doesn't doubt at all that the android will enforce his personal space, "violently" if he needs to, but if RK900 wanted violence, he would have swatted Hank's skull like a housefly.

As soon as Nines reaches the other corner, Gavin immediately stops.

"Good, that's good." He pushes his hands gently in the air. "Just stay there, all right? Stay."

Nines narrows his eyes at the command, the best confirmation he's got yet that the android does still understand at least some words. But he stays where he's at, jacket still clutched protectively in front of his body.

Gavin retreats back to the table. "This is going to make a loud sound. Sorry about that. Not trying to hurt you."

He has to turn around to do this, but just like he thought, he isn't immediately attacked. Nines isn't sadistic, and whatever this virus is doing to him, it hasn't changed that. Or at least, if he wanted to hurt people, he'd already be gone and leaving a body count. Instead, he'd just stayed inside the room, without threatening anyone who didn't first invade his space.

Gavin lifts up one edge of the table and tries to keep hold of it all the way down while tipping it on its side, flat portion facing the wall with the door. He doesn't quite manage it when the legs slip out from underneath it and he has to set it down quick, but it makes more of a thud than a bang.

Nines scrunches up his face in clear disapproval. Gavin can practically see invisible ears flattening against his head and a tail flicking irritably behind him.

"Sorry, babe," he says. "It's OK, I think this will help if you just let me get it done. More noise now."

The metal table does in fact screech at being dragged backwards into the corner. Nines's upper lip curls back, but Gavin gets it done before the noise provokes an attack.

"Done," he announces. "I'll go leave you alone now."

Nines glares at him suspiciously as he walks over to the door and leaves like he said. When he steps into the hall, closing the door behind him, he sees Hank, Chris, and Tina have gathered at the other end of the hall leading out into the bullpen.

"Oh hey, you're still alive," Hank says.

Chris sighs and hands over a twenty. Tina too.

"Seriously?" Gavin demands, mostly at Tina.

"Hey, I bet you'd fuck," she defends.

Gavin still glares at her. "He can't consent right now."

"No, that he'd fuck you."

"That—well he still can't—" Gavin splutters. "We're just friends!"

"Oh, you're friends?" Chris asks innocently.

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Hmm." Chris takes a sip of coffee. "Never seen you this nice before. Didn't even know you could do nice."

"Is nice your mom's name, 'cause I'll do—"

Hank cuts in. "So is he good now?"

"No," Gavin snaps back. "He needs to know he's safe and be left alone so he can … do his thing."

"Fowler doesn't want to risk letting the virus run its course in Nines," Hank says.

Gavin crosses his arms. "He's not doing anything."

"Yeah, but it's unpredictable." Hank sighs. "All we can say is he's not doing anything now. Who knows what he'll be doing in an hour."

"Well give us the damn hour then," he retorts.

Hank scrubs a hand over his beard. "If you stay in the room with him the whole time--without getting attacked--maybe I could sell it that you're in there supervising him while his system works to quarantine the virus."

"Yeah, you tell Fowler that." Gavin pauses and looks around them at the bullpen. "And wherever Connor's at, keep him there."

"He's getting repairs," Hank says, crossing his arms.

"Nines slapped him right across the face," Chris adds.

Tina grins. "It was like Real Androids of Detroit."

"And what did he do to piss Nines off?" Gavin asks.

"Those techs are making sure he doesn't lose an eyeball." Hank scowls at him. "It wasn't just a slap, Nines raked him with claws from temple to chin."

"Wow that's so fucking valid."

"Reed."

"Fuck off, you're the one avoiding the question," Gavin shoots back.

Tina answers it. "Connor tried to interface with Nines, because he's too superior to ever catch the virus from the other most superior android who caught the virus, like superior lemmings off a cliff. You should probably be glad Nines stopped him."

Hank just grunts. Chris sips his coffee and doesn't get involved.

"All right, well keep Connor the fuck away from our room then," Gavin says.

Chris does choose to pipe up about that. "Oh thank god, I thought you two would never get one."

Tina cackles like a really ugly, traitorous hag. Gavin flips them all off as he walks backwards down the hall, then makes shooing motions with his middle finger as he waits with his hand on the door. They go back to their desks, and he takes a deep breath before he turns the knob.

"Hey baby," he calls as he opens the door, since he already said it once. "I'm coming back in now, all right?"

He doesn't get a response, but he wasn't expecting one. Other than maybe the second chair, if Nines really didn't want to see him again. But Nines is busy hiding behind the desk tipped over on its side in the corner, both Gavin's and the android's own jacket draped over the top to create a "roof."

"Can I come over and look at your fort?" Gavin asks. "I promise I won't touch."

He still doesn't expect or receive a verbal answer. He's just talking so Nines can get used to his voice again, and if the android really is aware in there, maybe he'll appreciate it.

The floor of the interrogation room is not at all comfortable, especially now that he's pushing forty. Jesus. His knees crack loudly enough for Nines to peek slitted eyes out from under his jacket-fort and assess the gun at Gavin's hip.

"That's just my knees," he grumbles. "And back. Oof. Don't ever be human, all right. It sucks."

Nines blinks once at him, then hides again. He'd look with really cute with some cat ears and—

Gavin mentally slaps his brain. And his dick. Now is not the time for cringey anime cat boy fantasies. Technically, Nines is really sick right now, or whatever the android equivalent is.

"So I heard you slapped the shit out of Connor," he starts talking again. "I bet that was nice, and you can just say the virus made you do it. Wish I could come in with a runny nose and just start wailing on him."

Normal-Nines would have snarked he'd be more likely to obtain an STD, and then Gavin would have asked is that like an HDMI? and Nines would have made that bitchy scrunched up face he does that isn't pretty at all but makes him want to kiss the android so much.

Damn.

"Real useless slut hours this morning," he mutters.

Nines reaches out of the fort and bats at his head.

"Phck, all right, all right!"

Gavin hauls himself back up to his feet and moves away, since apparently his commentary isn't wanted or appreciated, but Nines makes a sad mewl that freezes him in his tracks. The android sticks his hand back out, palm up.

And yeah, actually, if Nines wanted him to leave, he apparently hasn't been shy about slapping people with his claws out this morning, so maybe …

"Do you want me in the fort too?" Gavin asks.

He shuffles back over and cautiously touches a finger to Nines's palm. Nines grabs his hand and tugs on it. He'd been making the batty-paws of give me the thing, not sharp-paws of go away.

"OK, coming in."

Gavin lifts up the Cyberlife jacket without getting attacked and steps into the fort. After that, he just sort of crouches down and wedges his body in, letting Nines move him around as the android sees fit.

They end up with Nines slouched down, back pressed against one wall and knees drawn up halfway, because Gavin flops into his lap on top of him.

Shockingly, that gets a purr instead of an immediate mauling.

Gavin's jacket lays across their heads, while his back supports the Cyberlife jacket. If he lies really still with his head in the android's neck, the jacket-roof stays sound.

"Hey baby," he murmurs. "You miss me?"

Nines purrs more smugly and pets down across his side. When Gavin tries to move his own hands to touch Nines in return, the purring abruptly stops, so he carefully keeps his hands to himself. And also attached to his body.

"We've got an hour for you to do your thing with the virus," Gavin tells him. "I just have to stay in here and supervise you."

He's not sure if Nines understands or is even paying attention, but an hour pressed this close to his suddenly-affectionate crush? Hell yeah.

“Can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen you without your jacket.”

He can’t really see his partner right now either, huddled with his face practically buried in his partner’s neck. He tried to give a subtle sniff. Nines smells like something slightly lemony, but sharp. Like a cleaning product, actually, but he has to admit that still smells a lot better than the spilled beer, stale cigarette smoke, and rank body odor of the type of man he usually takes home. Or the bar’s bathroom. Back alley.

While he mulls over his life choices, Nines’s purr trails off and his LED spins yellow as he concentrates. At least, Gavin hopes he really is doing some sort of android mojo against the virus.

He tries to get comfortable but just ends up straddling his partner’s lap. Nines nips at his ear when he tries to put some distance between their hips, and that really doesn’t help matters any.

So he settles into what will probably be both the best and worst hour of his life.

About twenty minutes in, Nines starts shivering, eyes flickering back and forth behind his closed lids. Gavin hugs him a little closer and tells him soothing nonsense about how good he is and that it will be OK. He knows the android hates being touched, but he risks slowly lifting his hand to brush against his hair.

The shivering slows, and Nines doesn't slap the shit out of him, so Gavin pets through his hair more firmly. Nines shoves his face into the crook of Gavin's neck like he's hiding from something, then licks him.

"Um?" Gavin says.

Nines stays close, and his shivering has totally stopped now underneath the petting. Gavin knows he gets some sort of DNA analysis from licking things, so maybe this is his way of … confirming … who Gavin is? That he's in a safe place with a safe person??

Nines licks him again and uh, it's not bad. Sitting in his partner's lap, playing with his hair, and getting necked on in return is actually feeling pretty damn good.

That's the problem though.

He tries to shift away again, but Nines not only pulls him back, the android deliberately wedges a thigh in between his legs, right up against the chub he's sporting.

Gavin grits his teeth. "Babe."

Nines has a virus right now. He's not thinking clearly. His inhibitions are—

Nines soft-headbutts him for a kiss, exactly the same way Lady Big Mouth does back at home when she wants attention. And he knows Nines likes the little fuck munchkin.

"Did you download some sort of cat-social-program because you like Lady so much?"

Nines doesn't answer, but he goes very still and turns his head away. Also exactly how Lady Big Mouth ignores being told to get off the table and stop sticking her nose in his cereal.

"Can the virus get to that?" Gavin frowns, thinking about it seriously now. "That'd be some sort of after-market accessory program, right? Definitely not standard."

Nines ever-so-slowly turns his head back while Gavin talks out loud to himself, as if the human won't notice him eyeing up his neck again if he just moves slowly enough.

Gavin makes eye contact. "Are you running cat-dot-e-x-e right now?"

Nines blinks slowly.

Oh my god. That makes him slapping the shit out of Connor so much funnier. He'd only been treating Nines like a cat because what is an RK model except a snobby little babey who thinks humans only exist to admire and entertain them? While also lowkey being a murder machine.

That's basically An Cat.

But that still doesn't explain all the—

"Wait, are you running some sort of sexy cat girl program that's making you hor—"

"No," Nines says clearly.

Gavin stops and gapes at him. It's hard to see with only random pockets of light filtering through gaps in their jackets above them and the android's own LED, spinning yellow-red-yellow as he looks away again and pouts.

"For fuck's sake, Gavin," he mutters.

Connor's voice suddenly announces over the intercom, "RK-Nine-Hundred completed his quarantine and assessment of the virus twenty minutes ago, Detective."

Gavin's mouth works in useless rage. Twenty minutes is nearly as long as they've been—fucking—canoodling here, and—and—

He grabs the android by his stupid tie and yanks him into a kiss. Clearly, the only logical method of settling this is mouth-to-mouth combat.

"Nines, you motherfucker," he says when they break apart.

"I would rather fuck the police," Nines replies.

That's almost smooth, until the android continues:

"You, specifically. I have been researching sexual intercourse in humans, and I created a spreadsheet of—"

Gavin laughs and pecks him on the lips again. "Baby. You're such a big baby."

"Oh." Nines blinks. "What does that mean, detective?"

"It means you could have just asked me out," Gavin says.

"I have asked you to accompany me to several eating establishments, Detective."

"Yeah, so I can get lunch."

"And drinking establishments."

"Wait no, you didn't even ask, you just started following me places!"

"I invited you to my apartment."

"To show off your washer and—"

It suddenly occurs to Gavin that not even the world's most socially oblivious android would invite someone over to his apartment after work to show off his washer and dryer.

"Oh my god," he whispers.

"We went to the park," Nines continues. "And the movies."

"I—you!" Gavin pokes him in the chest. "You'd never done any of that before!"

"We rode the Cedar Point together and you sat with me in the car for over half an hour while my 'gyroscope,'" Nines makes air quotes. "'Recalibrated'."

Gavin is left blinking and gaping again as he realizes Nines doesn't even have a—a fucking—gYrOsCoPE.

"Well—well—was this real?" Gavin demands. "Was there even a virus at all?"

"Of course," Nines answers. "I would never risk compromising our work."

He sounds not just genuinely sincere, but also a little affronted at the very idea of anything interfering with their job. Fucking asshole workaholic. That's why they make such good partners.

The intercom crackles back on again.

"And he really did throw a fucking chair at me too, you little shit," Hank grouses.

Nines pretends not to hear that. "The virus could not alter a social module I do not possess in order to make me more inclined to violence, but it did shut down my communication software. The feline socialization program I ran to circumvent this may have made some … inappropriate suggestions."

"Uhh, licking me, slapping Connor, or going all WWE on Hank?" Gavin asks.

"Perhaps the latter," Nines concedes. "But my point is that my chosen method of communicating that I needed to be left alone to complete my work could have been mistaken as aggressive."

Gavin snorts.

"And you are aware of the destruction and even loss of life the previous military model who contracted—"

"Whoa hey," he interrupts. "I knew you wouldn't do that."

Nines frowns. "Based on what evidence? All the other officers were afraid of me, with very good reason. This is not one of those asinine TV shows in which the power of love would have any effect."

Gavin barks out a laugh. "Fuck you, I know that. But if you were going to kill people, you would've already been killing—starting with Hank. That chair didn't even hit him. You used the smallest object you could get your hands on to force physical distance as an avoidance tactic."

"I still could have hurt you," Nines says.

"Yeah, well." Gavin shrugs. "That's why I tossed in my jacket first, talked to you through the door, and went in slow. It wasn't fucking rocket science or anything."

Nines grabs him by the back of the head and pulls him into another kiss without warning. It feels more like a headbutt. Gavin's like, ninety-eight-percent certain the android's never kissed anyone before.

It's perfect. He could stay here forever.

"BREAK IT UP!" Captain Fowler orders over the intercom.

Gavin jumps, and Nines makes a startled brrrp! noise, so apparently cat.exe is still running.

"You've had more than thirty fucking minutes to mack on each other in there, and we've still got a virus sending half of Detroit into androids gone wild. So get back to work!"

"Hey, so I get off work at six, and I hear you do too," Gavin says as they stand up.

"We always get off at the same time, Detective," Nines replies. "We are partners."

"Wow, what a coincidence. Maybe we could both get off at the same time later tonight too."

Gavin winks at him. Nines stutters through some sort of facial glitch that should not be cute but it's really—

"DEE-TEC-TIVE REED."

Gavin winces as he suddenly loses a boner all at once. "Back to work, Cap!"

Nines retrieves his Cyberlife jacket, but he holds it upside down so the 9 becomes a 6 and smiles at Gavin. Then he drapes it around Gavin's shoulders and sweeps out of the room with his leather jacket before he can recover from wearing each other's jackets, oh my god.

Fuck, Tina might win that bet after all.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, you can find me on tumblr at phcking-detective.tumblr.com for more access to extra drables and early access to chapters from my main reed900 series AND these bonus commissioned fics ^^


End file.
